Letters to the editor Tuesday

At the risk of further offending my neighbors in Garden City and Southbridge, I humbly apologize for my thoughtless comment that appeared in the Savannah Morning News on Dec. 15.

My long-held anger over the Garden City Food Lion project across the road from the Southbridge entrance prompted me to express my dismay over what I perceive as an ill-conceived attempt to improve on nature for a commercial concern, replacing acres of trees with concrete, blacktop and a few palms. This unnecessary convenience is at the expense of the shade and cooling benefits provided by the previously wooded area, apparent early every summer morning as the exposed intersection heats up.

The landscape has been left unfinished, not one tree preserved, with vacant storefronts providing a very unappealing frontage along Dean Forest Road. It has no resemblance to the livable "neighborhood" proposal reviewed and accepted by the Garden City Council a few years ago.

So, while acknowledging my resentment about this particular issue that I have with Garden City, I deeply apologize for my insult to the people and communities of Garden City. I am very sorry.

DEBBIE LOUGHNEY

Savannah

No support for falsified data claim

Al Teal, in his Letter of Dec. 17 (Obama backing wrong groups) states as fact, email messages among some global warming scientists prove they were falsifying data to support the global warming theory.

Recently, the AP published an article on the subject. It stated that it had examined about 1400 emails among these scientists. The report indicated that no falsification of data was found. However, they reported, in light of the data, some of the scientists harbored doubts about the conclusions being drawn from the data.

This is a far cry from the accusations made by Mr. Teal. If he has additional facts which show the AP was wrong and there was data tampering, he should make these facts and their source public.

JOEL SPIVAK

Savannah

Jekyll Island gets do-over

The same Jekyll Island Authority will be making the decisions again for the renovations to the island's amenities and hopefully, this time they will listen to the public.

As long as we have a politically dominated JIA, it's hard to get them to listen. It's too bad that people serving on committees such as this cannot do what's right for the average Georgian. One solution is to get a JIA that is not politically motivated, but this will probably never happen.

DONOVAN SCHOONOVER

Townsend

'Birther' argument cover for racism

After reading Andrew Farr's Dec. 13 letter ("Reader still questions Obama's birth"), it never ceases to amaze me how otherwise intelligent, well-read people can be so driven by ultra conservative political ideology that they refuse to recognize a Barack Hussein Obama's presidency. A man who was duly elected by the electorates; not selected as a puppet of a military junta, but representing the very essence of democracy and principles this country was founded upon. His ascendancy to the leadership of the free world is a testament to the battles fought to eradicate Jim Crowism in our time and to bridge the racial divide more than 40 years after the Civil Rights Act was enacted.

Obama's victory was well documented by the media in this country and extensively followed all over the world. After winning the nomination of his party, Obama went on to win 365 electoral votes to McCain's 173 - a clear victory, with no hanging chads or disputed ballots.

Undeterred, the opposition continues to question Obama's birth country in the face of incontrovertible evidence that he is a native of Hawaii. The "Birthers" continue to poison the well exhibited in this reader's letter.

Mr. Farr's intellectual dishonesty camouflages an overt form of racism that he needs to keep in check for three more years and beyond.

JEAN M. DORSINVILLE

Pooler

National water system needed

Water continues to be a problem in many parts of our country. We may have flooding in some places and, simultaneously, droughts in others.

To reduce this problem, I visualize a system that will have a series of pumping stations to transfer water to and from large basins throughout critical parts of our country. They could, also, have pipes that would pump excess water into the sea. The overall system would have a central control station that monitors all of the basin levels and constantly monitors for anticipated rain falls.

This could consist of large reversible variable speed inline pumps that transfer water through underground plastic pipes. It would be very costly, but, may be a good cost/life saving project.

It is my hope that some of our congressional people would present this to the Corp of Engineers for a feasibility review.

RICHARD LEECH

Richmond Hill

Senators wrong on health reform

It's time for Senators Chambliss and Isakson to go. They no longer represent working Americans. Let's recap where we are.

Health care costs have grown so burdensome that Americans now pay far more per person than other nations.

The high cost of employee health care is one reason employers are shipping American jobs over seas. Despite the high cost, we still don't get our money's worth.

Some 45 million still have no health insurance. Many Americans die each year for lack of preventive medicine. Far too many more are forced into bankruptcy because of medical expenses. Even those who have health insurance suffer from skyrocketing premiums that will keep climbing.

The Republican Party had an opportunity to fix the problem when, for nearly eight years, it controlled the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House.

Chambliss and Isakson and their brethren are either playing political "gotcha" or they are in bed with the Medical Industrial Complex. Either way, the billion dollar lobbying campaign wins, the hard-working Americans lose.

Chambliss, Isakson and their Republican comrades have so damaged the current health care legislation that, as it now stands, taxpayers will pay hundreds of billions of dollars more, but to the same band of insurance companies.

That's not reform. Without a public health option, you will not wring inefficiencies out of the system. Without a public option, you will continue to see growing health care costs and, with it, a growing loss of jobs to foreign nations. It's time for Chambliss, Isakson and others of their ilk to go.

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Donovan Schooover is exactly right - the current members of the Jekyll Island State Park Authority have, by their actions over the past 2 years, disqualified themselves for the post they hold. They've bungled necessary park improvements and complicated Jekyll Island's renovation by trying to float highly unpopular development projects. They continue to function in the dark with respect to public opinion on Jekyll's redevelopment, and to dismiss or marginalize protests by those who understand what Jekyll Island State Park is all about, and who support positive change. Lacking the qualifications and experience needed to practice public land planning and natural resource management in a professional manner, this board has disgraced itself and must be replaced by one better suited to manage a public asset as unique and treasured as Jekyll Island.

The current members of the Jekyll Island Authority apparently think that "development" of this beautiful, fragile coastal island is their mandate, and they have functioned as a "development authority." However the JIA's true legal mandate is to act as trustees of Jekyll Island State Park. A trustee does not own property, has no right to give it away or award as a patronage plum it to cronies or political backers, and indeed acts only as a fiduciary for the benefit of the citizens of Georgia. It is imperative that the JIA membership be broadened to include people with backgrounds in areas other than business, banking and development, so that all aspects of Jekyll's immense value and legacy as an irreplaceable natural wonder and public resource are given proper consideration in planning it's future.

Indeed, nearly all this current JIA board should be replaced as they cannot think outside the box they have gotten themselves into, and this will inevitably lead to more mismanagement of Jekyll. One wonders if they won't now be so concerned over saving face over the complete disaster of the Linger Longer deal that they will now contract with some less-than-desirable developer just because he promises to bring the hotels in on time with the convention center. That will bring a whole new round of problems.

Since Governor Perdue has already made early reappointments of several of these people (even though some had terms ending quite a ways out), the only hope for Jekyll is that WE ELECT A GOVERNOR who will REMOVE some of these real estate/developer people and appoint some ordinary Georgians with different skills sets. How about public land planning? Biology/ecology? How about being broad-minded enough to appoint just about any educated, caring citizen? Any of these would be better choices than a bunch of developers who just give big bucks and help raise funds for governors or wannabe governors.

Add my voice to growing list of Georgians looking to replace the entire Jekyll Island Authority. It has become apparent that the existing board is out of touch with it's constituency and, as such, deserves to be replaced with a board that more accurately represents those of us that have no true vested interest in the island beyond a desire to see renovations done in a responsible, proper manner. To this end our only hope is to elect a governor that makes a plain policy statement regarding the board and his/her intent to make a change. In this way the common man can indeed make a difference!

Donovan Schoonover’s Savannah Morning News letter expressing doubt about the Jekyll Island Authority’s willingness to turn over a new leaf by coming up with redevelopment plans for Jekyll Island that would be consistent with how the State Park’s customers envision Jekyll’s future is right on target. Sure, the sour economy has temporarily dampened JIA enthusiasm for expansive development, but the fact remains that the JIA’s past behavior and current attitude demonstrate an unwillingness to come to terms with the reality that many people are offended by the very notion of reducing open public beach development. As long as the Authority clings to the idea that Jekyll’s open beachfront is fair game for commercialization, public trust in the Authority as Park stewards will, for good reason, be absent.
Having botched Jekyll’s renovation to date, and showing no regard for public opinion on the State Park’s redevelopment, the JIA board has expended its credibility and invited dismissal by Georgia’s next Governor.